Board members said they received notices Tuesday morning without a reason for the cancellation. Emails and phone calls came a day after a reporter from The Times filed a complaint alleging three open-meeting violations by county commissioners, one of which concerned a prison board meeting.

“I wasn’t give a reason,” county jail Warden William Schouppe said about the cancellation. “It should have just been a typical meeting.”

Under the state’s Sunshine Act, a board can enter executive session if it cites an exemption found in state law. The media complaint, however, stated commissioners failed to give meaningful, specific reasons when it went into executive sessions.

The prison board did so Jan. 22, citing “personnel” and declining to elaborate the name of employee or cause, according to the complaint. The Times then published an article Jan. 24 about how officials discussed a jail fight between two inmates during the closed-door portion of the meeting.

According to state law, “the reason for holding the executive session must be announced at the open meeting occurring immediately prior or subsequent to the executive session.”

Melissa Melewsky, a media attorney for the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association, said the “immediately” wording allows a board to cite the reason prior to the executive session during the meeting that an executive session takes place or at the very next meeting held. If the subsequent meeting is canceled, the law allows officials to provide the reason at the meeting that next takes place, she said.

Previous meetings, however, have been canceled, said Judge Harry Knafelc, who is a member of the prison board. The meeting may have not been able to have a quorum, he said.